Medicine cabinet latch



A. L. CHAPMAN MEDICINE CABINET LATCH April 30, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 16. 1961 FIG.4.

INVENTOR Albert L. Chapman BY @uw m C i ATTORNEY FIG.2.

FIG.3.

April 30, 1963 A. l.. CHAPMAN MEDICINE CABINET LATCH 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 16, 1961 FIG. 7.

FIG-.6.

INVENTOR Alber! L. Chapman ATTORNEY United States Patent O7 3,087,765 MEDICINE CABINET LATCI-I Albert L. Chapman, Washington, D.C., assigner to the United States of America as represented by the Seeretary of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare Filed Feb. 16, 1961, Ser. No. 89,890 4 Claims. (Cl. S12- 209) (Granted under Title 35, U.S. Code (1952), sec. 266) The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government for governmental purposes without the payment of any royalty thereon.

This invention relates to medicine cabinets and to means for latching them in a manner which children cannot o en.

pMany serious cases of child poisoning occur each year due to the ability of children, generally under four years of age, to open medicine cabinets and reach the contents.

Many attempts have been made to solve this problem, the most recent being shown by Patent No. 2,936,189 to Pearson, which makes use of the inability of a child to reach two buttons which are separated by a distance greater than the handspread of the child. However, the mechanism shown requires the use of 'both hands of an adult, since four movable latching elements must be operated simultaneously by effecting `a pulling and squeezing motion on them. This tends to require a degree of coordination discouraging its use. Further, it can be used on a portable cabinet only, as it is shown, since a stationary cabinet usually would contain a mirrored surface, which surface would make diiiicult the use of this type of latch.

It is an object of this invention to provide an improved latch for medicine cabinets.

It is a further object of this invention to` deny access to children, while imposing very little hindrance to an adult opening the same medicine cabinet.

Additional objectives of this invention will be apparent from the description following.

It has now been discovered that a superior medicine cabinet latching structure can be made by providing that the two pins, which pins must be depressed to operate the cabinet latch, are spaced at a distance which is greater than the handspread of a child, but less than that which an adult is capable of reaching easily.

Further, the task of opening the cabinet door is made more dicult by providing several other pins, none of which are operative to open the latch, and therefore have no elfect on the opening of the cabinet door. Further, the pins which do open the door must be depressed simultaneously and individual or consecutive depression of either of these pins will have no effect on the latch. Generally the two operative pins are separated by a nonoperative pin, which separation is sufficient to make the distance between the two operative pins ygreater than the handspread of the young child. It has been found that a distance between the two operative pins not less than three inches must bey maintained in order to ensure the inability of young children to reach both pins simultaneously, since their handspread is generally under three inches. The average adult can easily span ve inches and therefore a distance between three and ve inches is usually maintained between the operative pins.

The ease of operation of this invention will become apparent from a study of this specification and the drawings attached in which:

FIG. l is a side elevation view of a cabinet showing my invention.

FIG. 2 is -a front elevation View of the cabinet of FIG. 1, with the door closed.

3,087,765 Patented Apr. 30, 1963 ice FIG. 3 is a front elevation view of the cabinet of FIG. 2, with the door open.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged partial mid-sectional View of the cabinet, as viewed from the front, in locked position.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged partial mid-sectional view of the cabinet, as viewed from the front, in unlocked position.

FIG. 6 is an isometric view of the locking mechanism, with the latch in locked position.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged partial sectional view ofthe locking mechanism, viewed from the inside of the cabinet along the line VII-VII shown in FIG. 3.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the numeral 1 represents the medicine chest which consists of a wall member 2, a door member 3, and door hinges 4. As shown in FIG. 3, the operative buttons 5, 6, 7, 8` and 9 are mounted for movement in holes 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14, which holes are in the base plate 15 rigidly mounted to the side lwall of the cabinet 16.

The numerals 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21 represent the holes in the sliding plate 22, which sliding plate is forced down by the spring 23 when the cabinet is in an unlocked position as is shown in FIG. 5, allowing a catching spring 24, attached to the door 3, to disengage itself from the catch 25, which is rigidly attached to the sliding plate 22.

In order to move the sliding pl-ate 22 to the unlocked position, buttons 6 and 8 must be pushed inward, so that discs 26 and 27, which are attached to buttons 6 and 8 respectively, are moved out of their respective holes 18 and 20 in the sliding plate 22, so that the spring 23V may depress the sliding plate 22.

In order to lock the cabinet, locking cam 27 is rigidly mounted on the cabinet door 3 and pushes locking knob 28, which is iirmly attached to sliding plate 22, in an upward direction, when the door is closed, until the holes 18 and 20 in the sliding plate 22 reach discs 26 and 27 respectively, at which point the discs are pulled into their respective holes by the action of springs 29 and 30, thus supporting the sliding plate 22.

If the incorrect combination of buttons should be pressed, for example, any of `buttons 5, 7 and 9 in any combination `or with only one of the correct buttons 6 and 8, it would then act to depress any of their respective springs 31, 32 or 33, which spring would operate to press its button 5, 7, or 9 into lthe respective hole 17, 19 or 21 in the sliding plate 22, thus further locking the plate in the locked position.

When the correct combination of buttons 6 and 8 is pressed, the latch is unlocked, allowing the door member 3 to be opened by a spring loaded device 34 which presses against the door. In place of a spring loaded device, leaf springs mounted on the cabinet body and pressing against the cabinet door or a spring actuated hinge supporting the door may ibe used.

It is apparent that only the two operative buttons, pressed simultaneously, will operate to unlock the door. If either operative button is pressed individually, the door will not be unlocked, as is also the case if -any combination of the non-operative buttons is pressed either consecutively or simultaneously.

It is also within the scope of this invention to provide a locking mechanism where the sliding plate is actuated by a spring placed at its base, rather than its top, as is shown in the preferred embodiment illustrated herein, or where the sliding plate may move in a horizontal direction, rather than the vertical direction.

While the present invention has been described with particular reference to a speciic example, it is not to be limited thereby, but reference is to be had to the appended claims for a definition of its scope.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. The combination of a medicine cabinet, a door member, and latch actuating means which are mounted on the side Wall of the cabinet and which must be pressed inward, certain 0f said latch actuating means being latch release means and the remainder being 'latch locking means, said latch yactuating means including a sliding plate supported by discs until the latch-release means are depressed, said latch release means being spaced apart by a distance of three to ve inches.

2. The combination of claim 1 with a spring -to depress the -sliding plate anda spring loaded device to open the medicine cabinet door/member.

3. The'combination-of claim 2 with a catching means attached to the medicine cabinet door and to the sliding plate.

4. The combination of claim 3 with a locking means attached to the medicine cabinet door and to the sliding plate.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 344,05 51 Melveny J une 22, 1886 1,618,841 McMenamin Feb. 22, 1927 1,656,699 Elmwall Jan. 17, 1928 1,802,552 Corcoran Apr. 28, 1931 2,233,699 Gorrell Mar. 4, 1941 2,411,098 Leiss Nov. 12, 1946 2,772,555 Smith Dec. 4, 1956 2,936,189 Pearson May 10, 1960 

1. THE COMBINATION OF A MEDICINE CABINET, A DOOR MEMBER, AND LATCH ACTUATING MEANS WHICH ARE MOUNTED ON THE SIDE WALL OF THE CABINET AND WHICH MUST BE PRESSED INWARD, CERTAIN OF SAID LATCH ACTUATING MEANS BEING LATCH RELEASE MEANS AND THE REMAINDER BEING LATCH LOCKING MEANS, SAID LATCH ACTUATING MEANS INCLUDING A SLIDING PLATE SUPPORTED BY DISCS UNTIL THE LATCH RELEASE MEANS ARE DEPRESSED, SAID LATCH RELEASE MEANS BEING SPACED APART BY A DISTANCE OF THREE TO FIVE INCHES. 